Page 57 of Treasured By the Hunter

“We are offering a half-dozen laying hens and a rooster,” Mo said.

By now, Aaron had pushed over a wooden vessel. “Homemade mead.”

“How do we know that’s not poisoned?” shouted a female from behind Clark.

Aaron rolled his eyes. He produced a short glass he’d clearly prepared beforehand, filled the glass with liquid from a tap on the vessel, and held it high. Then he chugged it down in one impressive gulp. He loudly placed the glass on the cart holding the barrel and held up a middle finger at the female who’d spoken.

Aaron was a lot less diplomatic than our Mo. He was their group’s Tech Wizard, so it was understandable. Those types were often better with machines than people. Lenny was here as well, but Sam was with Kan’n. We’d decided it wasn’t a good idea for him to return to the place he was kept prisoner for months.

Finally, Jack stepped forward with a fabric sack on his shoulders. “And coffee. We trade for it with another group way down in Peru.”

The talk behind Clark grew louder as more people came out from the buildings to see what was going on. I heard several cries of “Oh my god! Coffee!” from the crowd.

Coffee was the preferred stimulant for most humans on the planet; with it, they could achieve everything. I wasn’t partial to it.

Clark asked for a few moments of privacy and went to converse with several others who’d stayed back by the building. I strained to listen but could not catch their conversation.

“This is very generous,” he said when he returned. “We would have granted use of our courtyard anyway since my sources tell me that this nest is extremely close to us. But we will need to set some guidelines. You will stay in the concrete area of our courtyard and away from our gardens. I won’t have those ships landing on our crops.”

Mo looked around at the concrete area. “That’s fair.”

“Second, you are not bringing any of those mutant bugs inside these walls. If your men are covered in bug guts, they wash up outside first. And our water supply is not a part of the deal.”

“Agreed.” Mo extended a hand.

But someone in the crowd wasn’t so happy about the deal.

“Hell no,” said the male voice. “We can’t work with no monster-lovers. It ain’t right.”

“Yeah!” a female voice cried out. “We can’t trust them. What if they start going around raping all of us? Think about your wives and kids, and…”

There was a cackling laugh followed by a snarky, “You don’t have to worry about that. No one wants to touchyouwith your personality.”

Things descended into chaos until Clark bellowed so loudly it sounded almost like a Xarc’n roar.

Once everyone quieted, he said, “The nest is a bigger concern. Our own fighters have reported on these mutations. They are most active during dawn and dusk, the only times we have a reprieve from the flyers and darkness. If you want to volunteer to fight the things yourself, be my guest. If you don’t like my decision, feel free to run against me in the next election.”

There was no response.

“Well then,” Jack said in his smooth voice, which I was told was perfect for radio, and offered his hand. “Let’s shake on it.”

Clark took it and shook.

I turned my attention back to the tarp, but Zoey and her friend were no longer under it.

Chapter 28: Zoey

I ran into the building to grab my stuff, but when I came back out, Harb’k had already left for the nest with the other hunters. Perhaps it was for the best. From what I understood of the operations, the hunters needed to burn the nest from the inside out, and it was a dangerous endeavor. The last thing I wanted was for him to be distracted.

When they’d said they wanted to go attack the nest now, they’d meant right away and not tomorrow morning. The hunters believed that this attack on Sanctuary was done in desperation and that the nest was low in both inhabitants and food. They’d insisted on going before the nest had time to hatch more eggs.

Sanctuary’s fighters, which, to my astonishment, were led by Sasha, were worried about being unable to see as the sun set, but Lenny had assured them that there’d be plenty of light. Then, he’d demonstrated by flooding the courtyard with stadium lights.

He and the man named Aaron, who I’d yet to meet, had then proceeded to set up a large screen right in the middle of the courtyard so everyone could watch the attack on the nest. It was all very surreal to see the inhabitants of Sanctuary bring outchairs and make an evening of it, bundled up in their winter coats and blankets. All that was missing was popcorn.

I was down in the courtyard with Lenny. Clark had announced that I was their ambassador shortly after the main group of hunters left but before the humans had. Curtis had bearhugged me so hard I’d turned blue. Mo looked like he already knew. I was surprised to see Mo and Kat all geared up to join the fight. They’d gotten Sanctuary’s fighters updated with their plans before leaving together.

“This is Aaron,” Lenny said, introducing me to the other man. “He’s also a Tech Wizard. I’m glad you’re coming back, Zoey.”

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